Amazon to close on-line studying vertical in India amidst edtech slowdown

Amidst the slowdown in edtech, Amazon is shutting down its on-line studying vertical, Amazon Academy, in India. Launched in early 2021 through the pandemic-led edtech increase, the platform operated within the ‘check prep’ phase and provided digital teaching for entrance exams, together with IIT-JEE and NEET. 

“Amazon will discontinue Amazon Academy’s operations in a phased method, beginning August 2023, when our current batch completes its check preparation module. We stay dedicated to our clients and wish to guarantee them that this determination may have no affect on our providers,” the corporate stated in an announcement.

Amazon Academy clients may have entry to full course materials on-line for the prolonged interval of a 12 months (till October 2024). Amazon may even refund the total charge to these enrolled within the present educational batch, it added. 

Amazon Academy, which has over 5 million downloads on Google Play, provided college students a bunch of mock exams, query banks, follow questions, solved check papers from earlier years, together with day by day suggestions and tips. College students additionally had the choice of filtering questions by problem stage (simple, medium, and exhausting), and evaluating their JEE ranks with fellow aspirants.

Commenting on the upcoming shutdown of the vertical, an Amazon spokesperson stated, “At Amazon, we predict massive, experiment, and put money into new concepts to thrill clients. We additionally regularly consider the progress and potential of our services and products to ship buyer worth, and we usually make changes primarily based on these assessments. Following an evaluation, we’ve got made the choice to discontinue Amazon Academy.”

This closure comes at a time when edtech has been hit by the funding winter, leading to mass layoffs throughout the business. India’s prime 11 edtech start-ups, together with BYJU’S, Unacademy, Vedantu, amongst others have laid off over 7,000 workers till early November, as per Tracxn.

Unacademy, which competes with Amazon Academy within the check prep phase, has additionally shifted focus to offline centres, given the lacklustre demand in on-line studying because the pandemic affect began to wane. 

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